Sunday School Lesson
(Continued tram P*n S)
the pieces of the plot work to
gether like a jigsaw puzzle.
Mordecai foiled a plot against
the king. Later this would be of
advantage to the Jews. This
deed of Mordecai showed that
he was faithful to the king, but
he would not bow down to
Hainan. One was to show such
respect to God alone.
The reason for Haman's re
luctance to deal with Mordecai
alone is not clear. Did he know
of Mordecal's deed of faithful
ness?
Chapters 3.7 through 4:3: The
king was informed of the Jews
in dark terms. They were por
trayed as a threat to the stabil
ity of the empire, people who ig
nored the law of the land. The
king was quick to agree to their
elimination. ,
Chapter 4:4-17: When Esther
learned of the program against
her people, she was not ready at
once to help. Only when she
was reminded that even her
place as queen would not save
her did she agree to act. God's i
way In history is Indicated by
Mordecai's words, "Who knows
whether you have not come to
the kingdom for such a time as
this,"
Chapters 5 through 7: Haman
held a position of security and
prestige. His confidence was fur
ther bolstered by his invitation
to the queen's dinner, and he
planned for the public execution
of Mordecai. Esther, however,
had laid her plans carefully. The
combination of Esther's clever
ness, Mordecai's faithfulness to
the king, and Haman's overcon
fidence worked together to de
stroy the enemy of the Jews.
Cuapter 8: Not even the king
could reverse an order given in
his name, but he did authorize
a second decree allowing the
Jews to kill, all those who had
plotted against them. This atti
tude toward their enemies is
consistent with certain other
Old Testament passages. The
vengeance of God was seen to
be visited upon the enemies of
his people.
What The Scripture Says to Us
The punch line to a famous
vaudeville joke is, "Everybody's
gotta be somewhere." Obviously,
this statement is true. Some
times we have no difficulty in
plaining how we got there. We
planned to get there, and we
planned when we would be
there.
On the other hand, all of us
have had the experience of find
ing ourselves in situations we
did not plan. Indeed, how we
had our way, we would have
been elsewhere. Sometimes we
can show how we got there, but
at other times we are uncertain
even about this.
Esther was queen because she
had managed to lay her plans
wisely. Furthermore, she had
(Continued on Page 7)
clactric hair dryer,
of cource.
Electric suntan? >
Electric
tummy slimmer 1
tfor those
?lectric line*.
Tota! girl cooled and
warmed electrically.
f
Electric toothbrush,
for sure.
Electric nail buffer
(and dishwasher, too).
Need we say more?
electric woman
Without the electricity we make here at Duke Power, a girl might as well live in
the dark ages.
And what low-priced electric service does ? for what it costs ? makes it just
about the biggest value you can get.
Fact is, today the average Piedmont Carolina family gets about twice as much
electricity for a dollar as it did thirty years ago.
Pretty significant, when you think about how the price of almost everything else
k has gone way up.
Duke Power Jill* -